New York - AOL (NYSE: TWX) announced today that it has entered into an agreement to acquire Bebo, a social media network, for $850 million in cash. Bebo is particularly strong outside the United States, especially in Britain, and has a global membership of more than 40 million.

Together with its AIM and ICQ personal communications network, the acquisition will give AOL a larger footprint in the fast growing world of social media with a network of approximately 80 million unique users.

Ron Grant, AOL's president and CEO, indicated that the rationale behind the deal is also allow AOL to further its expansion internationally as well as give Bebo the resources to grow its footprint in the U. S.

Bebo is currently far behind MySpace and Facebook in the number of monthly users in the U. S., according to comScore. News Corp. (NYSE: NWS) bought MySpace for $580 million in 2005, but has estimated the network is now worth more than $15 billion. Facebook has a $15 billion market value, based on Microsoft's (NASD: MSFT) purchase late last year of a 1.6 percent stake for $240 million.

Bebo has about 100 employees operating in offices in the United Kingdom, San Francisco and Austin, Texas.

Joakim Baage

Related Links:

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http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080313/ap_on_hi_te/aol_bebo_8

http://www.bebo.com/

http://corp.aol.com/

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